A
Anonymous
I am interested in analyzing fecal samples. Do any of you do this and how can I go about getting started? What type of microscope would be best? Thanks for any help.
>Rod
>Rod
Michelle":1u3661gp said:For a symple fecal float you put a fresh fecal sample in a vial, add salt water, salt water should be to the strength that no more salt can be disolved, fill vial, adgitate by hand, then fill till a miniscus forms at the top of the vial, waite several minutes.
sidney411":125fcfrw said:Flaboy- this post is 2 years old. I haven't seen Michelle post in a long time, I doubt you will get a response back from her.
Chuckie":dtxu6q6t said:flaboy, I was glad you pulled this up. I found it interesting about checking for parasites. It sounds reasonable to check any drops left on the semen straws. I would be upset if the container took longer to get there. These things do happen with any company that has several people handling the product in different areas. All it takes is one incompetent person at a company to mess it up. Someone could mess up the label with a bad zip code, or a label could have been torn and one of the sorters assumed that it went to a different state with the same town with many packages passing by very quickly. The packages are sometimes sent to different hubs where each package is handled. Some shipments are sent directly from city to city, depending on the bulk load. But it will still pass through several people this way. Now since modern technology has arrived, each package can be traced through the internet. You can follow it each day. UPS refunds any costs lost on this type of problem. The shipper is the one that collects. If I had any doubt, I would have called the shipper and tell them what is going on and have a replacement sent immediately. Then send back the container with the original shipment. I would also have ordered it way ahead of time in case this type of problem did arise.
Chuckie":kigvis59 said:flaboy, I like the way you investigated the symptoms and what was happening with your cow. I have two cows that have long hair still hanging on. They have lost the hair at the top of their bodies, but a reddish winter coat still looks like it wants to hang on about mid ways. I wormed them again a week ago. The others have all slicked off to a nice short coat. I noticed that you wrote about using your microscope. What microscope did you buy to be able to check stool and semen samples? I looked up some refurbished microscopes and the prices. Where did you purchase the one you have?
dun":2pft2i3a said:It woould take an awful big bunch of them to beat the 3 bucks our vet charges.
dun
flaboy":1w1vcse8 said:While I do agree with Dun, it is almost impossible to get a large animal vet around here. Some of the LA vets no longer will look at them. We have a family friend who was a retired vet (he always took care of our stock) and his son took over. He came up twice and then said he no longer messes with large animals because of travel/danger. Most LA vets will do horses because horse people have all the $$$. :lol:
Now with that said Chuckie, I think Dun was referring to grabbing a fresh sample and taking it into the vet. Correct me if I am wrong Dun. That might be an option to you instead of doing it yourself. I asked my dogs vet and she said nope won't do it. Most will though.
Chuckie, back to your question. I think I looked for weeks before a found a deal on ebay. Be patient don't get caught up in the bidding wars. I have had mine for a long time but I think I paid around $100. You will find some from labs and such that have gone out of business. They are used but work good. I bought a one holer too as I only use it when I must.
Chuckie":15n05gqa said:It would be definitely be cheaper to carry it to the vet. I would find it more of a learning tool and I could check any cow at any time. I might give an example of a man buying wood working tools and building a shop to make some furniture when it would be easier and cheaper to just go buy the furniture. I would find a satisfaction of doing it all myself and I try to bypass the vet as much as I can.
Chuckie":7c4hqy7d said:It would be definitely be cheaper to carry it to the vet. I would find it more of a learning tool and I could check any cow at any time. I might give an example of a man buying wood working tools and building a shop to make some furniture when it would be easier and cheaper to just go buy the furniture. I would find a satisfaction of doing it all myself and I try to bypass the vet as much as I can.